ExoCarta 2012: database of exosomal proteins, RNA and lipids

Exosomes are membraneous nanovesicles of endocytic origin released by most cell types from diverse organisms; they play a critical role in cell–cell communication. ExoCarta (http://www.exocarta.org) is a manually curated database of exosomal proteins, RNA and lipids. The database catalogs information from both published and unpublished exosomal studies. The mode of exosomal purification and characterization, the biophysical and molecular properties are listed in the database aiding biomedical scientists in assessing the quality of the exosomal preparation and the corresponding data obtained. Currently, ExoCarta (Version 3.1) contains information on 11 261 protein entries, 2375 mRNA entries and 764 miRNA entries that were obtained from 134 exosomal studies. In addition to the data update, as a new feature, lipids identified in exosomes are added to ExoCarta. We believe that this free web-based community resource will aid researchers in identifying molecular signatures (proteins/RNA/lipids) that are specific to certain tissue/cell type derived exosomes and trigger new exosomal studies.